1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to ice makers and in particular to means for conducting ice from an ice maker to a delivery position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A recent substantial improvement in the utilization of refrigerators and freezers has been the provision of automatic ice makers which may be connected to a suitable water supply external to the refrigeration apparatus and which automatically provide supplies of ice bodies to a storage bin in association therewith for convenient utilization by the user of the apparatus.
It has recently been found desirable to provide a further improvement in such ice makers by utilizing in conjunction therewith means for effecting delivery of the ice from the ice maker not only in the ice body, or cube, form, but also in the form of crushed ice, thus eliminating the need for the user to effect a separate ice crushing operation after removing the ice bodies from the apparatus.
Another improvement in the basic ice body maker concept recently developed is the provision of means for automatically transferring ice bodies from the collecting bin to a dispensing or delivery position. Conveying means, conventionally in the form of augers, have been used to effect such automatic delivery.
Thus, it has been found desirable to utilize in conjunction with domestic refrigerators and the like means for automatically providing ice bodies, means for transferring the ice bodies made by the automatic ice maker from a collecting bin portion thereof to a dispensing or delivery space, and means for selectively providing the ice bodies in the form of crushed ice.
Referring now to the prior art patents, Countcil Munson shows, in U.S. Pat. No. 591,988, a grinding mill utilizing a pair of oppositely rotating members which are coaxially disposed and driven by their own respective shaft and drive means. A coupling is provided to maintain axial alignment in the grinding operation.
Arthur R. Selden discloses, in U.S. Pat. No. 985,211, an automatic fuel feeding device wherein a conveyor is provided for delivering lumps of coal and the like to a crushing area wherein the lumps are crushed by cooperating crushing wheels having spaced, parallel axes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,645,910, Meldon Gerald Leeson shows an ice making apparatus having a delivery chute provided with a movable guide so that the ice bodies can be directed from the ice maker selectively to a grinding means or in a bypass passage about the grinding means for selectively providing the ice bodies in crushed ice or intact ice body form.
In the icing machine disclosed by Frederick L. Smith in U.S. Pat. No. 2,839,254, means are provided for reducing cakes of ice to smaller sizes for facilitating their use in railway cars and the like. The ice cakes are crushed between a set of rotating picks and a rotatable star wheel, and further crushing is effected between the rotating picks and a set of cooperating blades. Both the star wheel and the blades are movable to adjust the degree of crushing provided.
A combination ice cube and crushed ice dispenser is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,441 of Robert J. Alvarez. The ice dispenser thereof utilizes means for selectively dispensing the ice cubes from a storage receptacle intact or crushing them for dispensing crushed ice as desired. The ice bodies are delivered through an inlet opening to a transfer space having an outlet opening generally below the inlet opening. Rotatable crusher arms are disposed so as to swing through the path of movement of the ice bodies from the inlet to the outlet. Normally, the crusher arms do not prevent the transfer of the ice bodies substantially intact to the outlet. However, Alvarez teaches that a deflector may be provided for directing the ice bodies from the straight-through path to the outlet and guiding them to fixed crusher means associated with the arms so as to permit the rotating arms to effect a crushing of the ice bodies for subsequent delivery to the outlet. Alvarez teaches a number of different forms of deflector means for effecting such selective ice body and crushed ice delivery.
Luis E. Prada, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,888, shows a combination ice cube and crushed ice dispenser which is generally similar to that of the Alvarez structure except that a movable anvil is provided in the crushing means for selectively providing fine crushed or coarse crushed ice, as desired. As in Alvarez, a deflector is provided to permit selective delivery of ice bodies or either form of the crushed ice.